It is now taking Australian companies an average of five weeks to make a hire, leading to a “ripple effect” impacting current employees and even leading some of them to quit.

The report by specialist recruiter Robert Half, based on a survey of 500 hiring managers in IT and tech, finance and accounting, and human resources found that on average, it’s taking five weeks to hire permanent staff, placing pressure on existing staff and creating discontent.

Just over 10 per cent of respondents said they were managing to hire someone within two weeks, while nearly a quarter were doing so in a month or less.

The main reasons for the delays were down to a lack of adequate talent and the increasing length of time it’s taking to parse through resumes and applications, according to the report.

Of the hiring managers, 60 per cent said they were facing delays due to difficulties attracting candidates, while more than 55 per cent said it is because of challenges in screening resumes and shortlisting candidates.

“Delays often happen because hiring teams want to identify candidates with the right skills and feel confident in committing to the hire,” Robert Half director Tom Ward told Information Age.

“It’s a combination of having too many candidates to sift through and, despite the abundance, finding someone with the right skillset and soft skills takes time.

“There’s also a fear of making the wrong choice, which can lead to a certain level of conservatism and even analysis paralysis before making a decision.”

The ripple effect

Nearly all respondents to the survey said they were experiencing negative impacts of taking a long time to hire.

Nearly half said it was leading to increased workloads for their existing workforce, while just under a third said it had delayed projects and had a financial impact.

Just under 30 per cent said the delays had also reduced team morale, while more than a quarter said it had led to a decline in service quality.

These delays could also be compounding the talent issue, with nearly a third of respondents saying that delays in hiring new staff was leading to turnover of existing staff.

“Extended delays in hiring can increase workloads and stress for existing employees, which may lead some to leave for better balance elsewhere,” Ward said.

“Acting quickly helps maintain team morale and retention.”

The findings back up a separate report earlier this year that found it was taking three times as long to hire someone as job seekers were expecting.

More than half of the job seekers surveyed for this study said that it should take no more than two weeks to complete the hiring process, but the average hiring time was found to be one-and-a-half months for permanent roles.

More than 40 per cent of hiring managers also said they had lost candidates because the hiring process was taking too long.

Is AI the answer?

These delays could lead to the introduction of more AI tools in the hiring process in an effort to speed things up, but this comes with significant risks.

“AI can speed up hiring by automating resume screening and highlighting top candidates quickly, but it’s not foolproof,” Ward said.

“Human judgement is essential to avoid bias and ensure cultural fit, making AI a helpful tool but it’s not a complete replacement.”

An estimated 30 per cent of organisations in Australia and more than 40 per cent around the world are using predictive AI in the recruitment process.

A study earlier this year found that there is a “serious risk” of discrimination when AI is used in the hiring process, and that this technology can “breathe new life” into long-running existing biases.

A Future of Work report by a Parliamentary committee this year also found that the use of AI in recruitment should be considered “high risk”.